Butte below state average on hospital admissions with diabetes

One out of three patients admitted to California hospitals has diabetes, which adds $1.6 billion to health care costs a year, a study released last week found.

Researchers looked through patient discharge records of those 35 and older as well as hospital financial data from 2011 and found that an average 31 percent — or about 730,000 people — who were hospitalized had diabetes. That translates to $225 million in costs paid out by Medi-Cal, researchers said.

Butte County came in below the state average with 27.5 percent of those hospitalized having diabetes. That amounted to 6.221 patients and $413.7 million in additional costs.

Glenn County was grouped with Tehama and Colusa counties, and the three also had the 27.5 percent rate. That came to 1,716 patients and $3.8 million in extra costs.

Among other north valley counties, Sutter was at 32.8 percent, Shasta at 26.1 percent.

"What the study says is that diabetes is having an overwhelming effect on individuals and families, on the health care system and health care costs," said Harold Goldstein, executive director for the California Center for Public Health Advocacy. The group worked on the study with the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

"We did this study because we wanted to know the impact on the health care system and the health care costs," Goldstein said. "Diabetes increases costs and it makes hospital care that much more challenging. Even if someone with diabetes comes into the emergency department after injuries in a car crash, those wounds are going to be more difficult to heal."

Goldstein said the data revealed that the high hospitalization costs affects every corner of the Golden State, but some areas differ. For example, one in five patients admitted to hospitals in Nevada County had diabetes. But in Imperial County, nearly one of two of its residents who were patients suffered from the disease.

Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, among the largest in square miles and population, saw 33 percent of all patients discharged from hospitals had diabetes in 2011, similar to the state's average. Together, that added up to $500 million in additional health care costs, according to the study.

About 25 million people nationwide have diabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a recent study, the CDC found that while new cases of Type 2 diabetes is rising rapidly, complications from the disease are on the decline. That may be good news, but the cost of treating diabetes and complications associated with the disease remains high — an estimated at $176 billion a year, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Diabetes is a chronic disease in which blood glucose levels are above normal, according to the CDC. It can cause heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, and foot and leg amputations. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.

People who are obese, have a family history of diabetes and are physical inactive are at particularly high risk for Type 2 diabetes.

Ohikhuare said physicians are screening more patients to identify early onset diabetes, but the problem won't go way in just a few years.

He said prevention and managing diabetes needs to start at the family level and expand to communities, as well as to policymakers.

Statewide, a bill introduced in February would require labels on soda, energy drinks and sweetened ice tea bottles and cans warning consumers about the health risks of too much sugar. Called the California Sugar Sweetened Beverages Safety Warning Bill (SB 1000) the labels are meant to help people understand that high levels of sugar are linked to a decline in health.

The bill has passed the Senate Health committee but has reached the Appropriations Committee suspense file — a step in the process that determines whether costs may too high.

Several organizations, including the California Medical Association, have co-sponsored the bill, but the California Beverage Association disputes the claims that sodas are contributing to diabetes. Citing the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the association said in a statement that food, not beverages, is more to blame for Americans' expanding waistlines.